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Report: MeToo activist Argento settled sex assault complaint

by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Posted Aug 20, 2018 1:07 pm EDT

FILE - In this Saturday, May 19, 2018, file photo, actress Asia Argento speaks about being raped by Harvey Weinstein during the closing ceremony of the 71st international film festival, Cannes, southern France. The New York Times reports that Argento, one of the most prominent activists of the #MeToo movement, recently settled a lawsuit filed against her by a young actor and musician who said she sexually assaulted him when he was 17. (Photo by Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP, File)

Italian actress Asia Argento — one of the most prominent activists of the MeToo movement against sexual harassment — recently settled a complaint filed against her by a young actor and musician who said she sexually assaulted him when he was 17, the New York Times reported.

Argento, 42, settled the notice of intent to sue filed by Jimmy Bennett, who is now 22, for $380,000 shortly after she said last October that movie mogul Harvey Weinstein raped her, the Times reported.

Argento and Bennett co-starred in a 2004 film called “The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things” in which Argento played Bennett’s prostitute mother.

Bennett says in the notice that he had sex with Argento in a California hotel in 2013. The age of consent in California is 18.

The notice says the encounter traumatized Bennett and hurt his career, the Times reported.

The newspaper said it received court documents that included a selfie of Argento and Bennett in bed. Three people familiar with the case said the documents were authentic, the Times reported.

Argento became one of the most well-known activists of the MeToo movement after she told the New Yorker magazine that Weinstein raped her at the Cannes Film Festival in 1997 when she was 21. Argento told the magazine that she continued to have a relationship with Weinstein because she was afraid of angering him.

Weinstein has been indicted on sex crime accusations involving three women, but not including Argento.

Representatives for Argento could not be immediately reached by The Associated Press for comment. Through a representative, Bennett declined to comment to the Times.